Severe decreases in the FHA loan limits in numerous counties across the country have spurred industry demand for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to disclose the methodology and process it used to determine the new loan limits. Although HUD’s announcement of lower FHA loan limits for 2014 had been long expected, mortgage industry participants were caught off guard by the substantial reductions in FHA loan limits caused by the statutory change in how the limits are calculated and by revised median house prices. For 2014, HUD announced that the national ceiling limit for single-family mortgages in high-cost areas would decline to ... [1 chart]

With one week left on Congress’ calendar year, Senate approval of S. 1376, the FHA Solvency Act of 2013, before the end of 2013 is becoming more unlikely, according to lobbyists. The bill is stalled and is unlikely to be brought to the floor any time soon. If the housing sector continues to improve, the government-sponsored enterprises continue to generate profit and the FHA’s newer books of business continue to perform well, passing GSE or FHA reform legislation next year would be an uphill battle, lobbyists said. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that implementing S. 1376 would result in ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a final rule defining a “qualified mortgage” that is insured by the FHA. The final rule will be effective on Jan. 10, 2014. The HUD rule builds off the QM/Ability-to-Repay rule, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized earlier this year. The Dodd-Frank Act requires HUD to propose a QM definition that is aligned with the ability-to-repay criteria set out in the Truth in Lending Act and with the agency’s mission to ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week announced it would direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement a three-pronged adjustment in guaranty fee the two government-sponsored enterprises charge lenders, including a 10 basis point g-fee hike beginning in March. The increases – which would boost the average guaranty fee for new loans to over 60 bps – are part of the FHFA’s strategic plan for Fannie and Freddie to attract more private capital to the mortgage market and “improve the relationship between g-fee and risk,” according to FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco. As part of the plan, Fannie and Freddie will drop...

Earlier this week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule that allows the bureau to supervise for the first time the nonbank servicers of private and federal student loans that qualify as “larger participants” in the student-loan servicing market. With an emphasis on supervision, the rule is not expected to have much of an initial effect upon the secondary market for student loans. But the CFPB’s expanding role into the sector could change that, especially if there is a crisis in student-loan lending. The bureau’s new rule defines...

Legislation that would allow privately-insured credit unions access to the Federal Home Loan Bank system has been introduced in the House.Introduced last week by Rep. Steve Stivers, R-OH, and Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-OH, H.R. 3584, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act of 2013, would amend the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to allow privately insured credit unions to be eligible for FHLBank membership.

Reform-minded lawmakers should move with all deliberate speed to restructure, recapitalize and remove Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government’s hands or risk the taxpayers’ stake in the mortgage market, experts told members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. The committee’s hearing prior to the Thanksgiving break focused on when and how to terminate the charters of the two government-sponsored enterprises, as well as whether current revenue held by Fannie and Freddie should be used to offset the cost of the new system.

A civil complaint filed by W.J. Bradley Mortgage in California state court against a former top loan officer and her new employer could decide what type of contact and other information an LO can take with them when they leave a firm. Since the fall, the WJB suit filed against former company LO Shelly Logemann, her new employer RPM Mortgage, its owners and others has been the talk of mortgage-banking circles in California and elsewhere. The case is being closely watched...

The lift in jumbo mortgage production during the third quarter of 2013 came from the non-agency segment of the market, while new originations of “conforming jumbo” loans faltered, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside Mortgage Finance. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA financed $25.48 billion in single-family loans that exceeded $417,000 during the third quarter, down 15.5 percent from the second quarter. Meanwhile, non-agency jumbo originations edged up 2.7 percent during the third quarter, hitting a six-year high. The strength of the non-agency jumbo market at a time when securitization of these loans has slowed...[Includes three data charts]

The National Association of Independent Housing Professionals is maneuvering to sue the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over broker disclosure of lender-paid compensation under the new ability-to-repay rule, but has yet to green-light an actual filing, pending a needed fundraiser, Inside Mortgage Finance has learned. “The CFPB is an independent agency with no oversight. From their inception on July 21, 2011, they have continually used their authority to pick winners and losers, causing unprecedented harm to consumers, mortgage brokers, loan originators, appraisers and other small-business housing professionals,” the organization said in a fund-raising appeal. “In order to stop these anti-consumer, anti-competition, job-killing rules, NAIHP is filing suit.” In its fundraising pitch, the group noted...